Chest drains are often used in connection with cardiac and thoracic surgical procedures in order to remove fluids from the chest cavity of a patient. Suction is typically used to draw fluid into the chest drain. Such chest drains frequently include a water seal in order to prevent the back flow of fluid (primarily gases) through the chest drain and back toward the patent's chest cavity. Such water seals therefore permit withdrawal of fluids from the patient while preventing the return of fluids back toward the patient through the chest drain.
Chest drains that include a water seal are provided with a water seal chamber, which is configured to hold a pre-determined or pre-specified volume of liquid, such as water or saline, that creates the seal. When used, the water seal chamber is filled with liquid by a medical professional.
A funnel can be used to fill the water seal chamber of a chest drain. Referring to FIG. 1, for example, the OASIS™ 3600 Chest Drain of Atrium Medical Corporation is shown. Exemplary features of the OASIS™ product are described by Herweck et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,358, which is incorporated herein by reference. As shown in FIG. 1, a pre-attached funnel 102 can be used to introduce water into the water seal chamber 104 of the chest drain 100.
More specifically, referring to FIG. 2, a funnel 102 is attached via tubing 106 to an inlet 108 at the top of the chest drain 100. The funnel 102 is positioned as shown and water is added to the top of the funnel 102. The funnel 102 is then raised to empty the water into the water seal chamber 104 to a desired level, fill line 112 (i.e., the 2 cm fill line shown in FIG. 1 below the label “D”), that corresponds to a pre-determined volume. If the water seal chamber 104 is overfilled, a syringe needle (not shown in FIG. 2) can be used to remove excess water through the self-sealing grommet 110 provided above the fill line. Accordingly, the funnel approach involves obtaining a source of water, filling the funnel 102, and (if necessary) using a syringe to remove excess water through the self-sealing grommet 110. This tedious process of obtaining the source of water, filling the funnel 102 and subsequently the water seal chamber, and removing excess water may be inconvenient for a medical professional in certain circumstances.
Referring to FIG. 3, a needleless access port 302 can also be used to fill the water seal chamber 304 of a chest drain 300. For example, the EXPRESS™ 4000 Chest Drain of Atrium Medical Corporation is shown in FIG. 3. Exemplary features of the EXPRESS™ product are described by Want et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,383, which is incorporated herein by reference. A needleless access port 302 is provided on the chest drain 300 (shown next to the water seal chamber 304 and the label “D” in FIG. 3), and the needleless access port 302 is used to introduce water into the water seal chamber 304.
Referring to FIG. 4, which illustrates details of the chest drain shown in FIG. 3, a luer-lock syringe 306 is used by a medical professional to introduce liquid into the water seal chamber 304 through the needleless access port 302. This involves filling the syringe 306 with an appropriate amount of water (or other liquid) so that it can be introduced into the water seal chamber 304. It is, however, sometimes inconvenient for medical professionals to (1) access a supply of appropriate water; (2) obtain a properly sized syringe 306; (3) fill the syringe 306 with water and introduce the water through the needleless access port 302; and (4) confirm that the amount of water introduced into the water seal chamber 304 is proper. If the water seal chamber 304 is overfilled, a syringe can be used to withdraw the excess water. Such a system can be especially inconvenient because, when a syringe 306 is desired for use with the chest drain 300, an appropriate syringe 306 must be located and filled by the medical professional. As such, inefficiency and inconvenience exists in the setup of the chest drain 300.
Whether the funnel approach or needleless access port approach is used for filling the water seal chamber, the performance of the chest drain and the water seal may vary depending upon whether the water seal chamber is filled with the appropriate volume of water. More specifically, if the water seal chamber is overfilled or underfilled, then the intended performance of the water seal may not be achieved. Accordingly, the medical professional should check the level of water in the water seal chamber and supplement the water to raise the level or withdraw excess water to lower the level.